Political Story

It was a cold November morning. Many people were still asleep, but I was awake. I could not wait for the opening of the polls to vote. I was sure that my vote would matter in this election, but one of my close friends told me that his vote did not matter. No matter how hard I tried to convince that it did, he just did not believe that his vote would matter. I was determined to vote and prove him wrong. I heard some sounds outside. When I looked it was the metropolitan bus and there were people on it. I went outside to see why the bus had stopped in my neighborhood. The driver told me that he was heading to the polls. I was confused until I realized that he meant the voting polls. He asked if I was going to come. I got on the bus and took a seat and we were on our way. Along the way we passed many houses and buildings and saw stray dogs and cats run away from the bus as we moved onwards. We finally saw the police department, which was where the voting polls were held. When the bus finally arrived I saw that there was no real line, that everyone was kind of crowded around the entrance of the fire department I got to the front to see if something had happened just to discover that the door was still locked and the polls were not meant to open for another five minutes. I asked the person next to me “Why is there no line?” She replied “The poll master will choose someone to cast the first vote and everyone will get to go after that.” The time finally came and the poll master came out and looked at us. “You” she said, indicating that I would get the first vote. Everyone was silent as I made my way up to the station. I went in without a word and punched out my choices without a second thought. When I exited everyone cheered and then they proceeded to the stations to cast their ballots. I went to work after that feeling very happy that I had voted. When I finally got home I was exhausted. I turned on the television just to see how the election was going. I was shocked to learn that neither candidate had reached the 270 mark needed to win, and that the vote was going to congress to decide who won the race. They explained that late in the race, McCain won California by one district because the one that would have tied up the election was tied, and was split between the two candidates. When I thought back about my vote, I realized that I had not punched the Chad on my ticket all the way out, and I wondered if my vote had caused all this because I hurried and did not check my ticket before I placed it in. As I was worrying, a special bulletin popped up. It said that there had been a miscount. That one ticket had been misplaced, and that the vote actually had Obama ahead by one, which meant that it was a tie for California, and that pushed Obama over the 270 mark. Though I never could convince my friend that it was my ticket that helped Obama win the election, I knew that it did and that is all that mattered.

Us and Them Audio

Listening to the audio version of “Us and Them” did not change my attitude toward the author. I still think that the author sounded very arrogant and greedy. Also the person who was narrating still sounded greedy. Though he was a little kid and that he might not have known what he was doing, I still think that he should have a sense of what is right and wrong, and that stuffing yourself with candy that you might not even like just because you do not want to give them to someone else. I also still think that he sort of thought of them as inferior beings, and that he should pity. He also views them as his own personal TV show. The only thing that seemed different is the end. The way it comes out on the audio version makes it seem as though the author is blaming TV for his lack of care for the Tomkeys. The author talks about how if the only image he would have to see was the one of himself stuffing candy down his mouth, he might have had to look at himself. But fortunately for him there was the television and the shows that came on it.

In “This is Emo” the author appeals to the reader by using references to pop culture. He uses movies of the 80’s and the band Coldplay as examples of why people look for fake love. The author made it real by using these examples. He also made it real through the use of words that usually are not found in essays into it to put more emphasis on the point that he was making. He believes that the reason why he could not find love was because of these movies and this band. I do not agree with him though. While some people believe that movies are true and that you can have endings like they come in the movies, most people know that the stories are not true. Movies are made to appeal to people. This means that they usually say or do whatever it is that brings in people to pay for the ticket and watch the movie. The author compares his love life to these movies because he says that the woman he dated compared him to those movies.

"Us and Them" memoir

The memoir “Us and Them” is the memory of a little boy who recalls a family that he thought was strange because he hears that they do not have a television. When I started to read this memoir I thought that this kid was pretty nosy. He was spying on these people just because he heard someone tell his mom. Then, after he found out that they actually do not have a television I thought that he was a very self-centered person. I thought this because he says in the story that he would pity them. The little boy also wonders what it must be like to be so “lonely and ignorant” when he tries to view the world through their eyes. He instantly assumes that they are ignorant because they are different and that their family does not own a television. Also, the boy says that they needed someone to show them how kids are supposed to act, at least how they are supposed to act in his eyes, but then says that he could not because this would take away from the “mystery and the god feeling I got from pitying them.” This also shows that the boy is fairly self-centered because rather than help these kids that he views as so strange he would rather watch them be strange. Also at the end of the story, the boy refuses to give up his candy, and would rather get sick from eating the chocolate than give to the Tomkey kids. The only excuse that the author may have is that the memoir is from when he was a kid, and when you are a kid you do not always do actions that make you proud of yourself as an adult, but you learn from these mistakes and they shape you into the person that you become.